Posts filed under ‘Radiohead’

Radiohead ripped it up on The Colbert Report on Monday night, and despite the band’s aversion to sit-down interviews there were a number of highlights beyond the music. Colbert suggested the night would be a “mind-blowing evening for music nerds”. He joked that “in the event any Radiohead-heads totally lose their shit” he’d have a hipster-paramedic standing by. Colbert also mocked America’s obsession with finding musical talent via television programs. A hilarious theme for the night was Colbert’s pretend-love of corporations in stark contrast to Radiohead’s stance. (See image above.) The band graciously played along. Although, during on funny moment, lead singer Thom Yorke said that Colbert’s corporate sponsor, Dr. Pepper, “tastes like that stuff you get at the dentist to swill your mouth out.” Well, okay, he’s right about that one. (Although, admittedly, I enjoy a little swill every now and then.) Colbert replied, “Well, Thom. He is a doctor.” The band also mentioned that it sold less records, but made more money by self-releasing “In Rainbows” as a digital download that customers could order for whatever price they saw fit. The video below, of “Morning Mr. Magpie”, will give you a taste of their performance. The band also played “Bloom”, “National Anthem”, “The Daily Mail”, “Codex”, and “Little By Little” — that you can watch at The Colbert Report’s official website. — David D. Robbins Jr.

Thanks to Radiohead’s website Dead Air Space there’s another widget for issue No. 3 in the band’s remix series, in the shops on August 1st (August 9th in the USA & Canada). The remixes are from Radiohead’s latest release “The King of Limbs”. This third series contains remixes from Four Tet, Lone and Pearson Sound.

Radiohead is celebrating this Record Store Day with the release of a limited-edition two-track 12-inch vinyl record. Maybe there’s something to the fact both these songs, “Supercollider” and “The Butcher” are about taking things apart — one in the most scientific way possible, and the other by hacking with a cleaver. It fits the motif of the band’s most recent release, “The King of Limbs”, with its images of a world teetering somewhere between catastrophic destruction and cosmic discovery. The first track, “Supercollider”, begins with these lyrics of emergence: “Supercollider / Dust in a moment / Particles scatter / Parting from the soup /Swimming upstream, before the heavens crack / Thin pixelations / Coming out from the dust.” There are flashes and hints of meaning. Images of “shadows” signalling both the “depressions” mentioned directly in the song’s lyrics — and perhaps the well-known stories of atomic bomb blasts so intense they burned people’s shadows into the walls of buildings. It’s a song the encapsulates the extremes of mankind. On one hand, we’re the makers of supercolliders measuring in miles, searching for the meaning of the world in a speck. On the other hand, we’re the same creators that killed a quarter of a million people in two bomb drops over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Okay, trying to pin down a Radiohead track is as fruitful as trying to catch the wind in a net. And frankly, songs are so much better when they have loose ends, insinuations, unique imagery, and contradiction. “Supercollider” is a terrifyingly beautiful and sprawling track, lasting just over seven minutes. It’s quite good, even by Radiohead standards, and reminiscent of “Separator” (the best song on “The King of Limbs”) — with Thom Yorke floating his haunting falsetto over textured electronics, warped synth, hollow percussion, and metronomic blips. “The Butcher” feels even darker and more personal. It begins ominously, with deep organ notes, thudding percussion, and Yorke’s eerie crooning: “Beauty will destroy your mind / Spare the gory details / Give them gift wrapped / For the man with everything.” — David D. Robbins Jr.

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This is a guilt-free listening zone. We've built relationships with bands, artists, labels and PR firms to give you the best in new music. All songs on this site are sent to Their Bated Breath directly from the artists, their PR firms, their record labels, or are available via stream. Thanks so much to all of them. It's important to me that nothing posted here take away anything from the artists. Enjoy. -- David.